It was great to have received a visit from Stuart Batty at Monday’s meeting. Stuart is Executive Director of Rotary New Zealand World Community Service, a charitable company that was established to recognise the need to take a New Zealand-wide view of World Community Service.
RNZWCS is recognised by the NZ Government as an Aid Agency Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and has Directors and an Administrator to deal with funding from NZAID (New Zealand's International Aid & Development agency, located within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade). All Rotary Clubs seeking NZAID funding must work through RNZWCS. Stuart spoke about Emergency Response Kits (ERKs) used in the Pacific following natural disasters. He mentioned the fact that Eastern Hutt Rotary was the instigator of the programme in NZ, and praised the late Dave Wilson for his huge, and unwavering support over many years, with fundraising for thousands of ERKs. Stuart also mentioned the Rotahome project, other Rotary projects in the Pacific, and recognised the extensive involvement that Eastern Hutt Rotary had with the RUCHI project in India.